Laura Muir admitted she paid the price for going for gold as her 1500 metres hopes were dashed on a night of disappointment for Great Britain's athletes at the Rio Olympics.

The Scot broke Kelly Holmes' British record last month, but had to settle for seventh place here as she tried to go with Kenya's Faith Kipyegon and Ethiopia's world record holder Genzebe Dibaba when they broke away, only to be swallowed up by the field with 150m to go.

The 23-year-old crossed the line in four minutes 12.88 seconds as Kipyegon beat Dibaba to the gold in 4mins 8.92secs.

"I went for it, I wasn't aiming for a top five, or third. I went for the gold," Muir said. "I gave it everything I could. I couldn't have done any more, it just so happened that the legs weren't in it. First Olympics, seventh is not quite what I wanted, but it will do."

Grabarz had to settle for fourth with a best clearance of 2.33m, while Pozzi offered a brutally honest assessment of his failure to even make the final.

Pozzi's bid to become Britain's first Olympic 110m hurdles medallist in 28 years was dashed in the semi-finals.

The 24-year-old, aiming to make up for the heartbreak of limping out of the heats at London 2012 with a torn hamstring by bouncing back from three years of injury hell, produced his slowest race of the season at the worst possible time.

Pozzi, who has lowered his personal best three times this year to 13.19s, started well before crashing into several hurdles and crossing the line in 13.67. It saw him finish fifth, his time not enough to qualify as a fastest loser.

He said: "I just didn't get into the race, it was just abysmal. To be honest I'm just embarrassed. I've never, ever run that badly and I can't begin to describe why."

Pozzi's team-mate Lawrence Clarke, fourth at London 2012, also failed to make the final, finishing sixth in 13.46.

There was better news for 400m hurdles medal hope Eilidh Doyle, who booked her spot in the final as a fastest loser after finishing third in 54.99, but Jack Green went out in the semi-finals of the men's event.

Dina Asher-Smith squeezed into the 200m final as the fastest loser after finishing fourth in 22.49.

Asher-Smith said: "I'm quite a bit disappointed as I know I can run better than that and I've got the opportunity now to do that in the final."

Jodie Williams went out as she finished eighth in her semi-final in 22.99.

In the long jump Lorraine Ugen (6.65m) and Jazmin Sawyers (6.53m) both qualified for the final, but world silver medallist Shara Proctor could only manage a best of 6.36m and went out.

Ben Bloom on Laura Muir and Laura Weightman

There is some way to go, but there were just enough signs that the audacious prediction made by Laura Muir’s coach may yet come true in the not too distant future.

It was January 2013 when Andy Young messaged a friend to tell him he had “the next Paula Radcliffe/Kelly Holmes” on his hands. Three years later it was such boldness that was perhaps Muir’s undoing as she promised so much, but ultimately failed to deliver on the biggest stage at the Olympic Games in Rio.

In light of her insistence that the Tokyo 2020 Games are her main aim, a seventh place finish in the 1500m final was a commendable achievement for the 23-year-old. But she had hoped for much more.

The formbook had suggested Muir would finish third here – her British record time she took from Holmes last month placed her behind the two dominant East Africans in the rankings this season.

When it came down to it, she paid the price for attempting to stay with the two big guns, fading badly in the home straight as Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon took gold ahead of reigning world champion and world record holder Genzebe Dibaba, of Ethiopia.

That Kipyegon is in fact the first women’s Olympic 1500m champion for eight years speaks volumes of the extent of the doping problems afflicting the sport.

Rapidly challenging the men’s 1988 Olympic 100m final for the title of “dirtiest race in history”, the women’s 1500m final from London 2012 has effectively become a roll call for dopers and frauds.

No fewer than six of the top nine finishers in that race have served doping bans either before or after, with the gold medal position currently unfilled after original winner Asli Cakir Alptekin tested positive for blood doping – the second offence of her career – and silver medallist mate Gamze Bulut was provisionally suspended for her own drugs offences.

Dibaba’s presence on the podium in Rio is bound to raise further questions over whether the spectre of doping has truly disappeared four years on from that disgraced London 2012 race, her coach Jama Aden having been arrested by Spanish police in June during a police raid which found the performance enhancing drug erythropoietin in his hotel.

While Dibaba, who was not present at the time, has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and Aden denies committing any offence, the mere presence of the Ethiopian at these Olympics is enough to fuel the sport’s many doubters.

That the world record she broke last summer had belonged to Wang Junxia, who has allegedly admitted being part of a Chinese state-sponsored doping regime in the 1990s, did not help matters.

Such matters had no bearing on Muir. The diminutive Scot only finished a lowly 12th at the London Olympic trials four years ago and watched from afar as the reputation of her beloved sport took a hammering.

Indeed, even two years ago she was failing to make it to major finals, crashing out of the European Championships heats and suffering disaster at her home Commonwealth Games in Glasgow when she was tripped entering the home straight.

Her subsequent rise to Olympic finalist had been a surprise to all – herself included.

“This is four years too early and we did not expect this,” she said before the race. “My coach was setting targets each year and each year I was smashing them.”

There was a mixed bag for the rest of the British contingent on a cool night at the Olympic Stadium.

Lorraine Ugen and Jazmin Sawyers successfully made it through to the long jump final as world silver medallist Shara Proctor failed to advance. The British pair will be joined in the final by Darya Klishina, the only Russian track and field athlete cleared to compete in Rio after the exposure of her country’s state-sponsored doping regime.

Eilidh Doyle qualified for the 400m hurdles final by the skin of her teeth, occupying the last fastest loser spot, while European champion Dina Asher-Smith followed the same route to make it through to the 200m final.

There was no such luck for Andy Pozzi and Lawrence Clarke who failed to make it through to the 110m hurdles final.

Last event of the night will be the 110m hurdles

Laura Muir interviewed

"I expected it to be slow, and I was on it straight away when they went. Thank you so much for the support at home. I am so proud. There's a lot more to come from me. I gave it everything I could."

The experts are wondering if Laura perhaps played a risky hand: if she hadn't 'gone for gold', i.e. tracked that formidable pair, could she have maybe put herself in a position for a lesser medal? Well, we will never know. Denise Lewis: "that is sport, you make split second decisions."

1,500m women's race

Steve Cram: "This might be one of the best 1,500m line-ups we have ever seen."

The first five from the World Champs are here. We are off. Weightman into the second place, Muir is right at the back. It is a very slow first lap.

Foster: "This will be a 1200m race because they are jogging the first lap."

Coming around the halfway mark, Weightman "is a reluctant leader" according to Big Bren.

Now it ramps up as we come around the back straight for the third time. They are stretching it out.

Dibaba, Muir and Kipyegon are the three as they take the bell... but as they come around the back straight, Kipyegon and Dibaba have broken Laura Muir. She is toiling in third, and now the pack come through and claim her, she is swallowed by several others. There will be no medal for Laura Muir tonight.

Meanwhile, Kipyegon is pulling away from Dibaba as they take the final bend and she is storming clear into the home straight. Kipyegon pulling clear. Highly impressive for her. Simpson of the USA battles hard for the bronze.

Dear me! It's not going very well for our athletics boys and girls

Second semi of the women's 200m

Team GB's Jodie Williams comes in last: "I am really disappointed. I feel so fortunate to even be here. Only 24 people make a semi, in hindsight I will be pleased with this but now I am just disappointed."

High class women's 200m semi now

Dafne Schippers and Elaine Thompson with a right tussle down the straight, the Dutchwoman wins out. These two looking formidable.

Dina Asher-Smith of GB is in fourth: "I got the wrong body position, I am quite disappointed. I hope it is enough to get to the Final. It was more like a final than a semi final (the quality of the others). I will have to wait and see." 22.49 probably won't be enough.

Jack Green finishes last in his 400m hurdles

Drama in the high jump

Robbie is over it... the bar is wobbling, the bar is wobbling, Robbie is celebrating, that bar is really wobbling... the white flag comes up... the bar falls off! Hang on! Robbie is protesting that they had already marked it as a pass, but I think we all know what the outcome is going to be. No dice, pal. That's a failure at 2.33m.

Eilidh Doyle IS THROUGH!

Qualifying is underway in women's long jump

We will keep abreast of that. Russia's sole track and field representative Darya Klishina, is going in the long jump as I speak. She trains in, and is thus drug tested in, America and so has escaped the blanket ban.

Here's Elidh Doyle in the 440m hurdles

She's going nicely over the penultimate hurdle, but as she takes the last she is flagging and she is hauled back on the line by two others. Doyle going backwards in the last few yards.

Credit:
BBC

Doyle will have to wait and see if she Qs. Only first two through automatically. "I am really happy with how the race went, fingers crossed now. It is wide open this year, nobody is wide open dominating, there are lot of us in this."

54.99 Doyle's time. The American winner of that absolutely crashed through the last hurdle but had such speed over the flat she still won.

Views from the GB mission

Team GB have won 50 medals at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, surpassing the previous best at an away Games of 47 at Beijing 2008.

British Olympic Association CEO Bill Sweeney said: “We said we believed this to be our most talented Team GB squad and everything we have seen to-date has proven that to be true. We have incredible faith in the athletes and our sports and with a number of them still to compete we are hopeful of creating yet more history and new heroes and heroines.”

Team GB’s Rio 2016 Chef de Mission Mark England said: “What this team has delivered so far at Rio 2016 is an incredible achievement and the country should be extremely proud of the athletes and their support staff. The best ever away Games is a piece of history and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to reach that target so on early on at Rio 2016. With five days still to go, and a number of sports yet to even start competing, no doubt we can look forward to more success to come from Team GB.”

GB's Robbie Grabarz has failed to clear 2.25m

Meanwhile, time for 110m action

Andy Pozzi goes for Britain. Ooh, he has clipped one of the early barriers. Never gets going in and he finishes nowhere.

"He will be bitterly disappointed with that, that is the worse I have seen him run all year," says Colin Jackson.

The lad himself is gutted. "Abysmal, absolutely awful. I hit one heavily, I cannot put my finger on it, I just felt really out of sorts. I can only apologise."

Credit:
BBC

Oh, son! Oh, you're breaking my heart here. Don't worry. You did your best. You'll be back. Gutting. Just imagine, four years --> 11 seconds. Harsh. Spare a thought for Haiti's Jeffrey Julmis, mind you, he smashed into the first hurdle and hit the deck. Gets up and makes it over the line.

Here is his team-mate Lawrence Clarke, a bit of an underdog in his semi, but then he was not fancied in London and he did amazingly to finish fourth. In a hot semi, he has done very well and he's come in, I'd say, fifth. Wait, sixth. "It has been an honour to compete for my country, this will be my last Olympics and I just want to say thank you to everyone who has got me here, from the Lottery."

So neither of our 110m hurdlers will be in the final.

Here is the Haitian sensation. Hit that first hurdle horribly, terrible fall. Picks himself up, dusts himself down, gets up. Michael Johnson: "He will have heard the coach's voice in his head. Get up. Finish. No matter what, you finish."

Terrific Tuesday?

It's already been a great day for GB in the sailing (two golds) and the gymnastics (two bronzes), and two British athletes are competing for medals on Tuesday night (or Wednesday morning UK time if you're going to be a pedant about it).

First, Robbie Grabarz goes for high jump gold at 00.30 (all times BST), and by about 02.36 the event will finish.

Grabarz won the bronze in London and in July at the Monaco Diamond League meet maintained his improvement since returning from a serious knee injury, clearing 2.31m for his best outdoor jump in four years.

The 28-year-old booked his place in tonight's final with a jump of 2.29m on Sunday, and is the seventh favourite to win gold this morning according to the bookies.

Upon qualifying for the final, Grabarz said: "It's going to be really tough and everyone in the final is going to want a medal and it's just going to come down to who performs well on the day."

Muir meanwhile finished third in both of her heats and is the third favourite to win tonight's final, with odds of 7/1. She has not won a major medal but at the 2016 Diamond League event at the Olympic Park in July she ran 3:57.49 for 1500 metres to break Dame Kelly Holmes' British record.

Muir said of Holmes: "I definitely idolised Kelly, she was probably my earliest memory at an Olympics. To be following in her footsteps is great and hopefully I can try to get one of her achievements one day."

Elsewhere on Wednesday morning there is decathlon action, the men's 110m hurdles final, and the first heat of the women's 800m.